Drug smuggler repatriated to Taiwan from Thailand

Taipei, June 12 (CNA) A convicted drug smuggler who fled to Thailand was repatriated to Taiwan on Thursday and escorted to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, according to the Ministry of Justice's (MOJ) Investigation Bureau.

Huang Li-wei (黃立為) was given a sentence of 10 years and six months in prison by the Supreme Court in January 2024 for attempting to smuggle 5 kilograms of ketamine into Taiwan from Thailand in April 2021.

However, he fled to Thailand before beginning his prison term.

The investigation bureau did not disclose when Huang was supposed to begin his sentence or when he left Taiwan. It said only that he was arrested at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport in May 2024 for using a fake passport.

Local media reported that the Criminal Investigation Bureau's office in Thailand received word that a Taiwanese traveler had been arrested at the airport in Bangkok after arriving from Cambodia on June 1, 2024.

The MOJ said the man was listed as a fugitive by Taiwan prosecutors in August 2024. Its legal affairs secretary in Thailand sought assistance from Thai authorities and discovered Huang was serving a sentence in the country for using a fake passport.

He was transferred to a detention center after completing that one-year sentence on May 31. Following coordination with Thai authorities, he was repatriated to Taiwan, the bureau said.